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Roy Wilkins and Keith Melick

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Retired 1st Sgt. Keith Melick (right) and retired Army Special Forces Command Sgt. Maj. Roy Wilkins (left) were on a mission in Kandahar Province in Afghanistan in 2004 when their caravan was hit by an IED.

Roy was seriously injured in the blast, but was pulled from his Humvee and survived.

Ten years later, Roy was at a VA medical center gym when he heard a familiar voice—one he recognized from the day of the explosion. The voice belonged to Keith, the medic who’d pulled him from the wreckage. That chance reunion marked the beginning of a deep friendship.

At StoryCorps, Roy and Keith talk about their memories of both encounters.

Originally aired November 29, 2014, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.

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KM: The thing that brought me to you in that gym was, I heard your voice.

RW: Uh-huh.

KM: And you know voices stick with you.

RW: “You said, uh, ”Have you been to Kandahar?”

I said, ”Yes.”

”Did you get blowed up in a humvee?”

I said, ”Yes, I did.”

And you said, ”I da one pulled you from that humvee.”

KM: Yeah, it was November 25th, 2004.

RW: We was out on a mission to defuse IEDs.

KM: I was actually going out with them because they were down a medic. And, uh, I was in the humvee behind you.

RW: And the next thing I know I seen a blue flash.

KM: As I came to your humvee, the vehicle itself was just pieces. I did not expect to find anyone alive.

RW: Lost my leg. I think my intestines was out.

KM: They were.And I remember pulling you out and saying to you, ”I gotcha.”

RW: And that stuck in my ear. For years I kept hearing this voice, ”I gotcha, I gotcha.” And now I’m sittin’ before the brother that saved my life.

KM: That day, I didn’t want to leave the gym.

RW: I didn’t either. I started crying, tears of joy.

KM: In my 28 years of the military, and through three different combat zones,you’re the first one that I’ve ever reunited with. Because we don’t know if you’d live or die. To see you today is like watching the angel walk through the door.

RW: I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I wish I could just take my heart out and show it to you. That it is fluttering with nothing but joy.